Pony

She turns back around, and I take a second to try and clear my head, she's so short she has to stand on her tiptoes to lean over the counter. "Payton love I wasn't expecting to see you this summer." The secretary says smiling widely at her, "How has your summer been?"

"It's been good." She replies, "I got a text that my new uniforms were in." She nods standing up,

"Sure thing give me a minute, I'll grab yours too Mr. Curtis." She says before she disappears around the corner, and I hear a door open and shut.

"First year?" It takes me a minute before I realize she's talking to me, I stare blankly at her for a second, to point out no girl has ever had this effect on me, ever. And not to brag I'm pretty good when it comes to getting girls, and not one of them has ever made me feel like I can't breathe, or think, or form a freaking sentence. "I'm going to say yes since I've been here since I was four and I've never met you." She continues.

"Yeah, I uh start in September." I somehow manage to stammer out, all I can think about is how blue her eyes are. They are this crazy shade of dark blue, I've never seen anyone with eyes that color, and they are perfectly framed with dark lashes.

"Well then I guess I'll see you in September." She tells me, giving me a smile that for whatever reason turns my insides into liquid.

"Maybe, hopefully." I blurt out, Jesus Pony get a grip she's a girl. I think to myself, a girl that you have no chance in hell of ever getting with. I can only imagine how many guys she has trying to kill each other to get some sort of attention from her. If I had to guess she's probably hooked up with some trust fund baby, on the fast track to Yale, who goes sailing on the weekends.

"Here you go." The secretary who I now realize has a name tag on that reads Barbara says as she comes back towards the counter her arms loaded down, she passes me an overstuffed garment bag and a black duffle bag. "Everything you need is in here, and if you're like me and try to avoid laundry you've got about two weeks' worth of uniforms." She says with a wink, "Just go ahead and sign here so we know you got them." I scribble my signature on the paper she pushes at me, and hand the bags to Liz who is watching me with an amused smile on her face. I know the way I am acting is going to be the hot topic tonight at dinner. "Payton here are yours." She says passing the other garment bag and duffle to her.

"Thank you, Miss. Barbara." She replies politely, signing her name below mine. "It was nice meeting you, and I'll see you in September." She tells me smiling, of course the girl has dimples, I sigh as she walks out of the office. I plop in the seat next to Liz,

"Don't say anything." I warn, Liz bites her lower lip, and I can see she's clearly trying not to laugh at me,

"Not a word." She replies. We wait a few more minutes before the door reopens and a guy who I assume is about my age comes flying through.

"Sorry I'm late." He says,

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you Robert." She nods at me, "This is your tour guide." Me and Liz stand up, "You can leave your uniforms in here, no need to carry them around." She hands him a folder,

"I'm Robbie. You must be Pony?" He asks holding out his hand, he's got an easy-going vibe about him, that reminds me of Two-Bit.

"Yeah, nice to meet you." I reply shaking his hand, "This is my sister-in-law, Liz." I add.

"Awesome, it's great to meet you both." He says as he pulls the door open, "We'll keep this short; Coach Edwards is itching to get you measured for equipment and uniforms. And he can be a bitch when you keep him waiting." We follow him out into the hallway, "So obviously this is the main office. Nothing to see." I have to chuckle as he turns and walks the other way,

"This place is huge." Liz remarks,

"You get used to it pretty quick. Everything is arranged by grade." He yanks open a set of double doors, "Cafeteria. They serve breakfast at the ass crack of dawn; it's included in your scholarship so is lunch and being on the hockey team we get team meals." I look at him,

"You're on the hockey team?" Robbie nods,

"Starting goalie this year." He pauses, "You really as good as Edwards is crowing about?" I sort of shrug,

"I'm alright I guess." I reply, I've never really been the bragging type. I let what I do speak for itself, now if I were Steve or Soda, I'd be telling Robbie that I was the greatest center since forever.

"At least you're not a prick like Finn. I hated that kid. I swear that kid from Stanton took him out because Finn doesn't know how to keep his God damn mouth shut." Robbie says turning in the other direction. "So, everything is color coordinated, juniors are in the green hall for pretty much everything unless you got to go the library or to gym." We turn a corner, and the hallway goes from a yellow color to a dark green.

"No lockers?" Liz asks looking around, Robbie lets out a laugh,

"When you get your laptop all your textbooks and reading list for English is already preloaded, they don't believe in lockers it takes away the look they are going for." He practically snorts. "As soon as they got the money from some big ass booster, they took the lockers out." He pauses, "Except for anyone on an athletic team we get our own locker room and lockers that are out in the arena."

"How long have you been going to school here?" Liz asks as Robbie starts leading us down another hallway,

"I got wait listed for a scholarship when I was in 7th grade, I started here in 8th grade." He pauses, "It'll be nice to have another scholarship guy on the hockey team most of them have rich parents who paid their way onto the team." He reaches out pulling open a door, and we head down a path that leads towards what I have to believe is the arena. Before Robbie can get the door open, Coach Edwards has them open,

"Andrews nice of you to take your time." He bellows, Robbie rolls his eyes, "Curtis nice to see you again. Glad you finally made it." He doesn't give me a chance to say a word as he ushers us into the arena.

Liz

I glance up from what I'm stirring and look at Pony who is sitting at the kitchen table pretending to read the stack of paperwork the school had sent home with us that has to be filled out before he starts. "You're quiet even for you." I mention, Pony looks up running his fingers through his hair,

"I'm alright. I promise Liz." He tells me. "Just a long day."

"You know if you need to talk to someone, we can give Kelly a call, or you can talk to me or Darry." I tell him.

"Liz I'm good really." He repeats. I turn back around and continue to cook dinner, as usually Darry was working late, and God knows where Soda is. Since we arrived, he had taken full advantage of a whole new group of girls who were incredibly eager to date him. He pretty much had a line around the block.

"Have you talked to anyone from home?" I ask, Pony gives me a look, that he knows exactly what I'm getting out. Before things got really bad, he started hanging out with a group of guys and some girls that Darry had not been thrilled he was hanging out with. At first Darry tried, I mean really tried I give him credit to be understanding, he voiced his opinion and that was it. And then Pony started to change, it was noticeable to everyone, even Two-Bit picked up on it and that says a lot. We all tried to talk to him, even Steve tried. Pony didn't want to hear anything, and refused to listen, at one point he pretty much said that he was going to do what he wanted to do. That's when Darry had put his foot down and said that was it and he wasn't hanging out with them anymore. But like any teenager when you tell them no, they are going to find a way to do what they want. We all caught him sneaking out, then Soda heard from someone that a girl Pony had been hanging out with was pregnant and you guessed it she swore it was his. None of us even knew Pony was having sex, I mean I wasn't surprised, but I thought he'd be smart enough to use a condom, thankfully it ended up being a false alarm. Between that and the almost daily calls from his principal about how Pony had gotten into a fight, we knew we had to do something. I really hope moving to Boston is the ticket to getting Pony back. I know Darry is worried that one of those kids are going to somehow convince Pony to run back to Tulsa.

"No, and no I'm not planning on running away." He says, he's always had this weird ability to read my mind.

"Good because I don't want to have to bail your brothers out for killing someone." I tell him. "So, you think you and Robbie are going to hang out?"

"Maybe. Don't you and Darry keep telling me I'm not here to make friends and I need to take hockey and school seriously?" He asks putting his pen down and staring at me.

"Alright smartass." I reply, "That's not what we meant. We just want you to be more selective about who you hangout with."

"So, I can go to the party Robbie invited me to?" He asks raising his eyebrows at me,

"I'll talk to Darry but I'm not going to make any promises." I tell him, "Now eat so you can go to your lesson." I say putting a plate in front of him. Darry's job that he had gotten was for Cooper Fitness which is a prestigious line of gyms run by a current NHL player, they are based out of Boston but are quickly expanding. Darry had been working for the crew that was renovating the one in Tulsa when he got offered the job running the crew that oversees all the gyms in the Boston area. He had been able to get Pony a full membership for free, and top of the line hockey lessons at a discounted price. We both agree that we have to encourage him playing hockey and we all do. Even Steve has taken him to lessons and now that Steve is a gym rat, they work out together all the time.

"Thanks Liz." He says as he starts to eat.